Hello there,

In recent years, GOG has managed to convince a variety of Japanese developers and publishers to release their games here, that would have seemed impossible a decade ago. This includes:
• PlayStation
• Capcom
• KONAMI
• SEGA

One of the earliest Japanese developers to bring their games to GOG was, of course, Nihon Falcom. Regardless of the publisher, whether it was XSEED, NIS America, Aksys Games or Mastiff, we would always get Nihon Falcom's games on GOG, often day one.

Even now, both Trails beyond the Horizon and Ys vs. Trails in the Sky are scheduled to release on GOG.

And yet... Arguably the most anticipated game of the beloved Trails series: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter - an upcoming remake of the original Trails in the Sky (FC) - is nowhere to be seen on GOG. Why is this remake so significant? Because Trails games are highly-serialised and many people feel intimidated to try out such a long-running series. They do not know where to start. The original game is the best place to start, but it is quite old. Too old for some. And so, the upcoming remake is the next best entry point.

At a glance, you may suggest that we should not worry. Every western-localised Nihon Falcom game tends to come out on GOG, so surely the Sky remake will do so as well. However if we look deeper, there is plenty to be worried about.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is scheduled to release world-wide on 2025/09/19 (September 19th, 2025). GOG lacks the store page for it (and so does Epic for that matter). Neither GOG (nor Epic) are mentioned anywhere on the marketing material either.

GungHo used to have one game on GOG - Grandia II Anniversary Edition. However they delisted it and never bothered to publish the HD remaster. We have not seen anything from GungHo since. And yet they are the ones localising and publishing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. We probably would not have had to worry if Nihon Falcom had just stuck with NIS America, but GungHo is seemingly going to become the first publisher to deprive GOG users of a Nihon Falcom game.

And so, I call onto everyone that enjoys JRPGs and Falcom games:
• Please vote on the GOG Dreamlist.
• Please comment on the Steam thread.
• Please contact GungHo via support@gunghoonline.com and ask for the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter to be released on GOG.
• Please contact GungHo on X (Twitter) via @GungHo_America and ask for the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter to be released on GOG.

Please let us inform GungHo that breaking tradition and depriving GOG users of a new Trails game is a mistake. Please vote and comment! The Dreamlist especially could use the votes. The count is incredibly low. I assume this is because most people have gotten too used to seeing Trails games come out on GOG day one without much effort. This is seemingly no longer the case.

Thank you for your attention and your help.

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I am also considering if I should hire a translator and send a letter to Nihon Falcom about this as well...

Honestly so long as the O.G version we got here stays up to buy I can stand not having the remake here .. Even though I do want it to show up here sooner or later .. I just am not one for remakes/Remasters in general ..thus I don't mind if we have a complete game story from the start to whereever the games stop on Gog in terms of Trails of the Sky ..

Anyway My bet is if this game does come here (even if I doubt it will given GungHo factor mentioned) .. but if they do my bet is after the games patching cycle and any possible DLCs it might get are done and over with

Might want to share this in the r/gog subreddit if you haven't already.

Good idea.

Do we have any relatively recent evidence regarding what motivates eastern/Japanese developers to release their games in the west/ on GOG specifically; if a game is released on Steam, would a Japanese developer consider "all western customers now taken care of?" That is, which, if any, of these suggestions are the most likely to have any effect whatsoever; or are we merely shouting into the void in the vain hope that someone hears and answers our cries?

Voted, thanks.

Already voted but after how Gungho treated gog users by removing the Grandia game I lost faith in them. Hopefully Nihon Falcom steps in and make them release the game here even a couple of months later like how they did with Tokyo Xanadu EX

Voted, but I have have little hope with GungHo being in charge of localization. To this day, I regret not getting Grandia 2 before it was delisted from GOG.

Personally, I think the original aged pretty well. I think the original trilogy worked well with keyboard and mouse (Unfortunately, not so much for the Crossbell dulogy that came after it). Being able to save anywhere is great QoL feature when must JRPGs have designated spots for saving. With the way exp is distributed, it reduces the grinding required when a party member is lacking behind on levels.

I just happened to start this game (the OG) for the first time ever this week. I actually didn't even know until this thread appeared that a remake was even happening. I like it a lot so far, even though I guess I am still in the prologue.
Also bought the next two chapters, pretty excited.
Anyways, voted on the dreamlist

I am trying to decipher what you are saying there.

So is that 1st Chapter game, that you are wishing to come to GOG, a remake of this game we already have on GOG?

https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_legend_of_heroes_trails_in_the_sky

So GOG is not missing the original game, but the remake of it? A bit like with The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion?

I voted for the wishlist entry, but I am also fine with the thought of playing only the original game. Just like with Oblivion. In fact, I prefer playing the original game over the remake, at least at first. Unless the original game is totally unplayable or something (Hello Daggerfall! Daggerfall Unity is how you are supposed to be played.)

Exactly so. With the added fear that as a of remake of a game already on GOG hasn't made it's arrival, it bodes ill for any other future titles (including ones where the original isn't on GOG). It endorses action now.

I'mnot exactly sure why the game needs a remake. I love it the way it is and it's still perfectly fine and playable today.

Still voted though. Even if it might not be my cup of tea, more options are always fine.

Aksys is not GunHo, unless it is another name for GunHo which i am not aware of.

Can only guess GunHos motivation for not releasing on GOG anymore, not a single game so far: They think on other platforms there are more sales (may not always be the case, who knows) and they love DRM because so far no title they ever released has been played by any pirate, according to their popular beliefs i assume. I got Grandia II on GOG and yes, it is a "true trophy" it seems. Perhaps at those old days people should have showed more interest for it, it is a legendary classic after all... although not as good as the Dreamcast-original which still got the best colors.

In addition to the Sky remake and the Grandia games, GungHo is the publisher for Lunar Remastered Collection, so their refusal to publish on GOG is keeping quite a few significant JRPGs from us.

https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/lunar-remastered-collection-2025
https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/grandia-hd-remaster-2018
https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/grandia-ii-hd-remaster-2015

As I've said before, I think it's not necessarily a good thing that Falcom is diverting resources to retell ((the first half of) the first part of) Trails, basically in a bid to win over people who won't play fixed-camera games from the early 2000s, but without any clear plan for the other four Trails games they made on the same engine. Still, the remake's quality looks good and if it does come to GOG I'll buy it.